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Howard Dean on getting young people to vote

Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor and presidential candidate, became chairman of the Democratic National Committee in February 2005.

Shortly after he took over, he pledged to bring reform to the Party. Rather than focusing just on "swing states," Dean proposed what has come to be known as the 50-State Strategy. The goal, he says, is for the Democratic Party to be committed to winning elections at every level in every region of the country, with Democrats organized in every single voting precinct in the country.

State party chairs have lauded Dean for raising money directly for the individual state parties.

But others disagreed.

As Democrats vied to win back the Congress last year, several other party heavyweights went public with their criticism of Dean, saying he was wasting valuable resources that would be better targeted at key congressional districts.

But the Democrats did end up winning the House and Senate last year. And Dean says his efforts should really pay dividends next year.

Dean addressed the convention filled with liberal bloggers called Yearly Kos last week. Here are excerpts from his speech regarding bringing in more young people to vote.